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desertvixenLeaving this one public, since people might want to read it who are not on my friends' list.
I am pro-choice. I support legal abortion, contraception, and honest sexual education.
Why do so many people have a hard time understanding this? Especially some of the men I interact with, a majority of whom are in the military.
A woman's body should belong to the woman. (Note that I say should, because I think we can all come up with enough examples that prove we do not entirely own our bodies.)
What happens in our bodies should be our decision. I am not saying that the men involved should not have a chance to voice their opinion. On the other hand, women and men need to be upfront with each other before sex. The men who complain they don't have a choice in the choice question are missing the point. They DO have a choice, and that is to sleep with a woman who shares your views on the subject. In other words, yes, you should be discussing sex before you are having it.
If something goes wrong during a pregnancy, who will deal with the immediate physical repercussions? The woman.
There is also this simple fact. If we, as women, do not control what happens in our own bodies, what CAN we control? A woman's reproductive life touches on all other aspects of her life - the amount of money she contributes to family support, her education, her safety, and her health.
We are not simply incubators for another generation. Women exist for more than our wombs and our breastmilk.
Yet, increasingly, there are restrictions on reproductive rights. On the right to a safe, legal abortion. On the right to a contraceptive (anyone who's ever tried to get EC can vouch for this one). We live in a world where pharmacists can refuse us medication because they "don't agree with it", in a world where Viagra can be covered under insurance and contraceptives are not, in a world where elements of our government are pushing "abstinence only" sex ed on our schools, despite studies that show issues with its effectiveness.
If we do not guard our rights, this generation - the one born after Roe v. Wade, the one that has never known a world where women died in back alley abortions on a fairly routine basis - will see us lose their rights.
Contact your representatives, and let your voice be known. Once these rights are lost, getting them back will be next to impossible.
I am pro-choice. I support legal abortion, contraception, and honest sexual education.
Why do so many people have a hard time understanding this? Especially some of the men I interact with, a majority of whom are in the military.
A woman's body should belong to the woman. (Note that I say should, because I think we can all come up with enough examples that prove we do not entirely own our bodies.)
What happens in our bodies should be our decision. I am not saying that the men involved should not have a chance to voice their opinion. On the other hand, women and men need to be upfront with each other before sex. The men who complain they don't have a choice in the choice question are missing the point. They DO have a choice, and that is to sleep with a woman who shares your views on the subject. In other words, yes, you should be discussing sex before you are having it.
If something goes wrong during a pregnancy, who will deal with the immediate physical repercussions? The woman.
There is also this simple fact. If we, as women, do not control what happens in our own bodies, what CAN we control? A woman's reproductive life touches on all other aspects of her life - the amount of money she contributes to family support, her education, her safety, and her health.
We are not simply incubators for another generation. Women exist for more than our wombs and our breastmilk.
Yet, increasingly, there are restrictions on reproductive rights. On the right to a safe, legal abortion. On the right to a contraceptive (anyone who's ever tried to get EC can vouch for this one). We live in a world where pharmacists can refuse us medication because they "don't agree with it", in a world where Viagra can be covered under insurance and contraceptives are not, in a world where elements of our government are pushing "abstinence only" sex ed on our schools, despite studies that show issues with its effectiveness.
If we do not guard our rights, this generation - the one born after Roe v. Wade, the one that has never known a world where women died in back alley abortions on a fairly routine basis - will see us lose their rights.
Contact your representatives, and let your voice be known. Once these rights are lost, getting them back will be next to impossible.
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no subject
Date: 2005-08-15 08:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-16 05:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-15 10:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-15 10:51 pm (UTC)Go for it, chica.
DV
no subject
Date: 2005-08-16 09:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-16 06:53 pm (UTC)Well said! I'd like to see much more done with education, availability, and discussion, to at least reduce the necessity for so many painful choices.
Well, you know, if they talked to us about it, there would be an uncontrollable urge to go out and DO it.
My mother, having become pregnant with me at 19 (nowadays, no biggie), took education about planned parenthood very seriously, for all 3 of her children. The message that sex was something that was natural and enjoyable under the right circumstances, *with protection*. We had that talk at 15, although I didn't really need it for another 2 years.
Abstinence-only programs have an issue - the kids for whom it does not work (and let's not kid ourselves about it working for everyone) have absorbed information about the failure rates, and don't use anything anyway. In the right setting, I think they can be a positive force. I think a more positive force would be teaching our daughters that They Have Value. Girls with a strong sense of self-esteem are less likely to fall for stupid lines, or to let a guy get away without using protection "just this once". For the males raised in these homes, they too learn that Women Have Value, and it's not okay to run over their wishes.
Yesterday I found myself explaining how birth control pills/patches worked. I think the fact that this woman got to be twenty years old without learning the basic facts is SAD.
DV (who needs a feminist icon, apparently)
no subject
Date: 2005-08-16 07:50 pm (UTC)You're so right about the need for self-esteem for young women. That's something everyone can be involved in.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-16 10:40 pm (UTC)[blushes under extreme compliments}
I actually channeled my inner 80's child today ... so more icons will be forthcoming featuring some of the ladies of the 80's cartoons.
DV
no subject
Date: 2005-08-16 11:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-16 06:47 pm (UTC)Link?
DV
no subject
Date: 2005-08-18 07:59 pm (UTC)Actually, on the whole national ID card idea... I can sort of see where they're coming from. However, you're talking to someone who voluntarily joined an organization that requires me to have ID at all times, and to show it whenever required. I have to use my military ID for everything - coming on post, using my PX/Commissary priveleges, everywhere I go.
I don't know that the idea as proposed is workable, but I think we're going to get to it eventually.
DV